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Javascript: With an array of indices, splice a nested object using the indices to find the element with a recursive function

Lets say I have an array: [0,1,5].
The object I want to splice is object[0].content[1].content[5].splice()
However, the array can be however long, if it's just length 1,
then object[0].splice()
If it's length 2, object[0].content[1].splice()
I want to create a recursive function that does this, so I don't have to make a lot of if length conditionals. Any ideas on how to do this? Thank you

Recursion is neither necessary nor desirable for solving a problem of this type. All you need is a simple loop:
var array = [0, 1, 5];
var result = object[array.shift()];
while(var index = array.shift()) {
result = result.content[index];
}
var spliceResult = result.splice();

I get that recursiveness is not necessary in this situation. In the grand scheme neither is coding. But sometimes students like myself come to these places for help for specific questions based on constraints or edge cases. Try this one on for size. This specifically eliminates more than one occurrence of 0.
var takeOut = function(array) {
if (array.length === 0) { return array };
if(takeOut(array.slice(1))[0] === 0 && array[0] === 0) {
return takeOut(array.slice(1));
} else {
return [array[0]].concat(takeOut(array.slice(1)));
}
};

Splitting an array of numbers and non-numbers into two separate arrays

I'm very new to javascript and I'm trying to create a function that takes a mixed input of numbers and then loops through the array in order to sort them into two newer arrays so I can manipulate them further.
So if I have an input of
1,a,2,b,3,c,4,d,
I want to make two new arrays of
1,2,3,4 and a,b,c,d
So far I've been able to split the input string at the comma, so that I now have
1a2b3c4d
all I need to be able to do now is just separate the numbers and non-numbers. I was thinking of using two loops: one that checks
if(isNan.array[n] == True )
and then trying to find a way to store the letters into a variable using the loop and then using another loop to do so for the numbers using another if function.
Is this how I should do it, and do you have any advice on how to go about it?
Edit:
I now have this code to check for letters:
if (isNaN(splitResult[L])) {
for (i = 0; i < splitResult; i++) {
letterArray.add(splitResult[L]);
L = L + 1
When I try to output the results to a box to count letters (using the variable L), nothing shows up. I doubt I've made a new array

just for completion, split the string into array first :)
let yourString = '1a2b3c4d';
let yourArray = yourString.split('');
let letterArray = [];
let numberArray = [];
yourArray.forEach(item => {
if(isNaN(item) && typeof item === 'string'){
letterArray.push(item);
}
else if(!isNaN(item) {
numberArray.push(item);
}
});
console.log(letterArray, numberArray);

All you need to do is loop through the array, you can use the Array prototypes forEach. Or you can use the normal for loop to check through each element of the array. You can now check if each element isNaN and then push into the right array appropriately. You can use the snippet below
const yourArray = ['1','a','2','b','3','c','4','d'];
const letterArray = [];
const numberArray = [];
yourArray.forEach((eachItem) => {
if(isNaN(eachItem)){
letterArray.push(eachItem);
} else {
numberArray.push(eachItem);
}
});
console.log(letterArray, numberArray);

Looping through an array with conditions

I'm having a tough time figuring out how to loop through an array and if certain items do exist within the array, i'd like to perform a .slice(0, 16) to kind of filter an already existing array (lets call that existing array "routes").
For example, a previous process will yield the following array:
points = ['=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P1SEL',
'=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P2SEL',
'=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP1',
'=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP2',
'=00BYPS_C1A_EINCSCMP',
'=00ECY20WA200_BYPS_SPSL1',
'=00ECC92AG184YB01',
'=00ECC92AG185YB01',
'=00ECC92AG186YB01',
'=00ECC92AG187YB01',
]
So if any of the above items exist in the "points" Array, which in this case they all do (but in some cases it could just be 1 of the 10 items existing there), I'm trying to perform routes.slice(0, 16) to the other already existing array.
I've tried lots of different ways (for loops with if statements) and at this point I'm not sure if its my syntax or what, but I'm back at square 0 and I don't even have a competent piece of code to show for. Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

You could use a hash table for checking and filtering.
var points = ['=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P1SEL', '=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P2SEL', '=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP1', '=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP2', '=00BYPS_C1A_EINCSCMP', '=00ECY20WA200_BYPS_SPSL1', '=00ECC92AG184YB01', '=00ECC92AG185YB01', '=00ECC92AG186YB01', '=00ECC92AG187YB01'],
hash = Object.create(null),
filtered = points.filter(function (a) {
if (!hash[a.slice(0, 16)]) {
hash[a.slice(0, 16)] = true;
return true;
}
});
console.log(filtered);
ES6 with Set
var points = ['=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P1SEL', '=00ECY20WA200_RECV_P2SEL', '=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP1', '=00RECV_C1A_EINCSCMPP2', '=00BYPS_C1A_EINCSCMP', '=00ECY20WA200_BYPS_SPSL1', '=00ECC92AG184YB01', '=00ECC92AG185YB01', '=00ECC92AG186YB01', '=00ECC92AG187YB01'],
pSet = new Set,
filtered = points.filter(a => !pSet.has(a.slice(0, 16)) && pSet.add(a.slice(0, 16)));
console.log(filtered);

EDIT: So it seems like you want to remove an element from an array called routes for each element in the points array. This is how you could do this:
function removeBrokenRoutes(brokenPoints, routes){
for(let pt of brokenPoints){
let index = routes.indexOf(pt);
if(index !== -1) routes.splice(index,1);
}
return routes;
}
Keep in mind that the larger the arrays, the more time this is going to take to complete.

You could use the filter and indexOf methods in combination:
var arr = [/* all the data you're checking against */];
var points = [/* the data you're checking for */];
var filteredArr = arr.filter(function(x) {
// will return -1 if the point is not found
return points.indexOf(x) !== -1;
});
filteredArr will contain all the points that appear in both arrays. The filter function works by taking a function with one argument x, which represents each item in the array. if the function returns true, the item will be added to the new array (filteredArr), and if false the function will move on to the next item. indexOf will check if the item is found in the other array. Also it is important to note that you will need a more complex solution (such as a hashtable) if the data set is very, very large as this is not necessarily the most performant method. But it's a good place to start as it is easy to understand.

How to initialize 4d array in javascript?

Here is my code:
var arr = [[[[[]]]]];
var c = 20;
for (i=0;i<5;i++)
arr[i][0][0][0] = c;
alert(arr[2][0][0][0]);
It doesn't work, but how can I do this?

Most people here are using for loops, which I think are mostly obsolete in the age of anonymous functions in JavaScript. You people should know better :P
Anyway, you can solve this quite nicely in a one-liner. Here are a few scripts that can initialize your array...
If you already have a 4-dimensional array, you can initialize it elegantly like this:
arr.forEach(function(e) { e[0][0][0] = c })
Or, if you're more into map:
arr.map(function(e) { e[0][0][0] = c })
These are assuming you already have c defined, which you do in your code sample (20).
From now on, though, please Google your questions before asking them on stackoverflow. You will receive an answer that has already been accepted :)

It doesn't work because you haven't specified any elements beyond the first one, so the length of array is one and accessing further keys is incorrect.
I think, the most convenient way would be to push a new 3d array with c inside on every iteration (actually I have no idea what you're trying to achieve with this xD):
var arr = [];
var c = 20;
for (i=0;i<5;i++)
arr.push([[[c]]])
alert(arr[2][0][0][0]);
(in your example it's actually 5d, but as you've asked for 4d, writing 4d there)

It is unclear what you want, but I imagine a 4 dimension array is an array that has a set of arrays nested 3 deep, each of which has an array nested 2 deep, each of which has a single array that contains values.
In a one dimension array, you access the value at index 2 by:
arr[2];
In a two dimension array, you'd access the value at (2,3) by:
arr[2][3]
and so on until you get to the value at (2,3,1,2) in a four dimension array by:
arr[2][3][1][2]
and if that was the only value in the array, it would look like:
[,,[,,,[,[,,'value at 2312']]]];
If there was also a value at (1,1,0,2) the array would now look like:
[,[,[[,,'value at 1102']]],[,,,[,[,,'value at 2312']]]];
There can only be values in the last nested array, the value at indexes in every other array must be another array (for the lower dimensions), so to insert at value at, say (2,1,3,1) and assign it a value of 6, you need to loop over the array and inspect each index. If it's not already an array, insert an array and keep going, e.g.:
// Insert value in arrary at coord
// coord is a comma separated list of coordinates.
function insertValue( array, coord, value) {
var coords = coord.split(',');
var arr = array;
for (var c, i=0, iLen=coords.length-1; i < iLen; i++) {
c = coords[i];
if (!Array.isArray(arr[c])) arr[c] = [];
arr = arr[c];
}
arr[coords[i]] = value;
return array;
}
document.write('result: ' + JSON.stringify(insertValue([],'1,2,1,3','at 1213')));
I don't understand what you are trying to do in the OP: are you trying to create a value of 20 at coordinates (0,0,0,0), (1,0,0,0), (2,0,0,0), etc.? If that is the case, you also need a fill function that will iterate for the required number of times and pass suitable arguments to insertValue.
If that's what you want, then given the above you should be able to write such a function. On the first iteration it would pass:
insertValue(array, '0,0,0,0', 20)
and on the second:
insertValue(array, '1,0,0,0', 20)
and so on. You may wish to modify the function so that instead of the coords being a CSV string, you pass an array like [0,0,0,0] (which is what split turns the CSV string into), but that's up to you.
Note that you must pass all 4 dimensions, otherwise you will replace one of the dimension arrays with a value and effectively delete all other points in that dimension sector.
PS
ES5 introduced forEach, which helps encapsulate loops but doesn't necessarily mean less code, or faster execution, than an equivalent for loop:
// Insert value in arr at coord
// coord is a comma separated list of coordinates.
function insertValue( array, coord, value) {
var arr = array;
var coords = coord.split(',');
var last = coords.pop();
coords.forEach(function(c) {
if (!Array.isArray(arr[c])) arr[c] = [];
arr = arr[c];
})
arr[last] = value;
return array;
}

Create array with 5 nested arrays:
var arr = [[[[[]]]], [[[[]]]], [[[[]]]], [[[[]]]], [[[[]]]], [[[[]]]]];
var c = 20;
for (i=0;i<5;i++)
arr[i][0][0][0] = c;
alert(arr[2][0][0][0]);
EDIT: if you dig into functional programming and recursion, you can initialize your multidimensional array with just a few lines of code. Let's say you want 4-dimensional array with length 10 of each dimension:
function createNDimensionalArray(n, length) {
return n === 1
? new Array(length)
: Array.apply(null, Array(length)).map(createNDimensionalArray.bind(null, n - 1, length));
}
var arr = createNDimensionalArray(4, 10);
console.log(arr); // creates 4-dimensional array 10x10x10x10
Notice that initialization like this could be very slow if you create very big arrays (e.g. createNDimensionalArray(5, 10000).
If you prefer to set length of each dimension, you can modify previous the solution like this:
function createNDimensionalArray(dims) {
return dims.length === 1
? new Array(dims[0])
: Array.apply(null, Array(dims[0])).map(createNDimensionalArray.bind(null, dims.slice(1)));
}
var arr = createNDimensionalArray([2, 3, 4, 5]);
console.log(arr); // creates 4-dimensional array 2x3x4x5

Javascript for-loop returning "null" instead of my value

I'm trying to get the function below to return the average of all elements in array1, but I keep getting null as the result. I can't seem to figure out why.
var array1 = [46,73,-18,0,-442,779,5,1400];
var arrayAverage = function(arrayavg) {
for (var average = 0,answer=0, arrayavg = arrayavg.length;array1 > answer;answer++)
average +=parseInt(arrayavg[answer]);
var calc = average/arrayavg.length;
return calc
};

There are a number of errors, I don't have time to point them all out, hopefully the following is sufficient:
var array1 = [46,73,-18,0,-442,779,5,1400];
var arrayAverage = function(arrayavg) {
I don't know why you using a function expression rather than a function declaration. It doesn't affect the issue, but is more code to write. It's also good to give variables names that express what they are for, so given that the function expects an array:
function arrayAverage(array) {
then:
for (var average = 0,answer=0, arrayavg = arrayavg.length;array1 > answer;answer++)
It's not a good idea to pile all those variable declarations into the for condition, far better to separate concerns and only create variables that you need:
var total = 0;
Now iterate over the array to get the total value. The '{' brackets can be omitted, but it's clearer to include them:
for (var i=0, iLen=array.length; i<iLen; i++) {
total += array[i];
}
Now calculate the average and return it in one statement:
return total/iLen;
}
console.log(arrayAverage(array1)); // 230.375

You need to put brackets after your for loop
I was too fast to answer.
You are re-assigning the passed array to the length of the passed array.
arrayavg = arrayavg.length
this breaks everything.

in the for loop you have assigned arrayavg=arrayavg.length and in the body ,you are accessing average+=arrayavg[answer]. arrayavg is now a primitive type . it will return undefined.
And your loop condition is array1 > answer array1 is an array .you cant compare it like that.it will return false.
modified code.
var array1 = [46,73,-18,0,-442,779,5,1400];
var arrayAverage = function(arrayavg) {
var sum=0;
for (var i=0;i<arrayavg.length;i++)
sum +=parseInt(arrayavg[i]);
return sum/arrayavg.length;
};

You are comparing a number to your array in your for loop. You want to stop the for when answer is the same as array1 length.
Also, don't change your parameter array to its length if you want to get its values in the loop.
var array1 = [46,73,-18,0,-442,779,5,1400];
var arrayAverage = function(arrayavg) {
for (var average = 0,answer=0, len = arrayavg.length;len > answer;answer++)
average +=parseInt(arrayavg[answer]);
var calc = average/len;
return calc
};
And to call it:
arrayAverage(array1);

Your code has two problems in the for loop.
for (var average = 0,answer=0, arrayavg = arrayavg.length;array1 > answer;answer++)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
First thing is you set arrayavg to arrayavg's length BUT in the next line you try to read the index of the array. Well you overwrote the array with a number! Not going to happen.
Second issue you are comparing an array 'array1' to a number 'answer' . What does that check do? Not what you think it is going. You want to be checking the length, but wouldn't you want to be checking the passed in array, not the hardcoded one?

I think the other answers (particularly RobG) have covered most of it. It might help to follow a couple of standard rules (that I use) for your loops:
1) Always have the index as the first declared element, the length of the array (for caching purposes) as the second, and any other variables after them.
2) Always use brackets to separate your loop code from the code in the rest of the function. That way you know when to return your averaged product (ie after the }).
So this is my slightly rewritten code of your problem:
for (var index = 0, len = arrayavg.length, avg = 0; index < len; index++) {
avg += parseInt(arrayavg[index], 10) / len;
}
return avg;
Note also that parseInt should contain a radix (in this case 10). You can leave it out but it's good practice to always include it.
By the way, here's an alternative to your function you might find useful that uses a functional approach using reduce:
var arrayAverage = function (arr) {
return arr.reduce(function (a, b) { return a + b; }) / arr.length;
}